April 16, 2013

Ken and Dawndee Rossy, Bishop, were arrested last week in Bishop on suspicion of embezzling more than $1.5 million in public funds from the county's Heath and Human Services department. Dawndee Rossy was a supervisor at the department at the time of her arrest. The couple was arrested on 44 felony counts related to their alleged embezzlement. Photo/Inyo Register

Last weekâ€™s arrest of a Bishop resident on charges of embezzling more than $1.5 million in public funds has raised just as many questions for taxpayers as investigators.

At the top of the list of questions seems to be how a county employee could have gotten away with the ongoing theft â€“ as alleged â€“ for as long as she did.

Dawndee Rossy, 46, and her husband, Ken Rossy, 43, were arrested by District Attorneyâ€™s Office investigators on Thursday for a total of 44 felonies related to their alleged embezzlement of taxpayer money from Dawndeeâ€™s work.

Dawndee Rossy, up until about early to mid-February, had been employed as a supervisor in the Inyo County Health and Human Servicesâ€™ Public Assistance Program office. She is being accused of using her position to steal taxpayer money meant to assist the neediest of local residents and is suspected of doing so as far back as at least 2005.

Inyo County Health and Human Service Director Jean Turner said that as a supervisor in the Public Assistance Program, Rossy was responsible for â€śoversight of operations, personnel and program compliance.â€ť

As far as oversight of the entire office, Turner said the HHS program is â€śon parâ€ť with other small-county departments, with â€śeight levels of existing oversightâ€ť in the local office.

The embezzlement, and Rossyâ€™s potential role in it, were brought to light in mid-January when two employees â€“ reportedly subordinates â€“ went to higher-ups with concerns about discrepancies they had noticed. These discrepancies were reported to the Bishop Police Department, which launched an investigation Jan. 24 and identified Dawndee Rossy as a â€śperson of interestâ€ť in the investigation on Jan. 25, the same day officers served a search warrant at the Rossy home.

Dawndee and Ken Rossy were scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court on Friday on charges that include, for Dawndee, two counts of grand theft, 34 counts of identity theft, two counts of embezzlement, one count of possession of controlled substance, one count of welfare fraud and four counts of criminal conspiracy; and for Ken, one count of grand theft, one count of welfare fraud, four counts of criminal conspiracy and one count of possession of controlled substance.

Their arraignment was continued to today, at which time they are expected to answer to the charges.
But exactly how someone within the local HHS office was seemingly able to circumvent eight levels of oversight for eight years is a mystery.

D.A. Art Maillet said Monday he is investigating the criminal aspects of the case, and is not involved in the countyâ€™s efforts to ensure that the thefts canâ€™t be repeated. But he is also wondering how the theft continued from 2005 to 2013.

â€śIt is one of the questions I initially had,â€ť Maillet said. â€śI know the (county) auditor has some controls and the state has some controlsâ€ť over financial oversight of the office.

Turner said that the local HHS department â€śhas a combination of in-house controls, the state and independent auditorsâ€ť who track public funds to ensure they are not being misused. â€śWe have a variety of sets of controls,â€ť Turner said, adding that she is also waiting for the Rossys to have their day in court before releasing details about the case against Dawndee.

â€śOne of the things I am doing is meeting with other counties, discussing our controls and sharing information,â€ť Turner said. â€śWe are always looking for ways to improve our services.â€ť

Inyo County Auditor-Controller Leslie Chapman said she is working with the HHS Department to evaluate the oversight system and re-arrange job duties to ensure that employees and managers are checking and double checking work.

â€śWe are changing up job duties and looking a different things to have cross checks,â€ť Chapman said.

Chapman also said the county is currently in negotiations with a contractor to host a new employee fraud training class that will teach employees and managers â€śhow to recognize when something is not quiet right and what should raise a flag with them. And hopefully employees will be comfortable stepping forward if they notice something is wrong."

Chapman said that training should be scheduled sometime within the next few weeks.

According to Maillet, a preliminary hearing for Ken Rossy is scheduled for next Tuesday. At that hearing, Maillet said, more information about the prosecutionâ€™s case may be made available, but, until that time, he does not want to give away too much information about the case.